4. Life-changing experience at Manikarnika Ghat
Not for the faint-hearted, Manikarnika Ghat is the Hindu cremation site in Varanasi.It often turns out to be a life-changing experience to witness the rituals of life and death so closely, especially for western travelers.
The smell, sight, and sound around this Ghat can be overwhelming. It is believed that those cremated here attain Moksha (liberation from the cycle of life and death). Touts are a problem here. Avoid them. Don’t follow priests or guides to the upper floor of the building where the rituals and cremations take place, as they will ask you to pay later.
As per Hindu mythology, Goddess Parvati dropped her earrings here in a tank known as the Manikarnika Well and Lord Shiva filled the tank with his sweat while digging it to recover the earring.
